Chelsea manager Rafael Benitez gives John Terry no guarantee of starting role in Europa League final

Rafael Benítez is refusing to offer John Terry any guarantees over his place
in the Europa League final but has argued that he deserves respect and
appreciation for his achievements since replacing Roberto Di Matteo.

Thursday's 3-1 win against Basle secured Chelsea’s place in a second successive European final and the chance to win their 11th major trophy since Roman Abramovich bought the club 10 years ago.

Terry was dropped from the starting team on Thursday night and, despite also missing last year’s Champions League final through suspension, Benítez would not say whether the club’s most successful ever captain would now play against Benfica on May 15.

“I don’t know because we have too many games to play before,” said Benítez. “The main thing for me is to enjoy today and be ready for the challenge of United on Sunday, and then Tottenham. One game at a time, and concentrate on the job in hand.”

Benítez was again ignored by the Chelsea supporters against Basle amid chanting for both Jose Mourinho and Di Matteo.

The Europa League, however, will be the fourth major European final of Benítez’s career and gives Chelsea the chance to complete their set of the major club trophies over this past decade.

Asked if he had earned the respect of the Chelsea supporters, Benítez said: “We’re doing our jobs as professionals. Since the talk at Middlesbrough, I think we’ve won 11 of 13 games at home, which is quite good. Hopefully a lot of them, they will appreciate that.

“We’ve worked so hard during the year to be in finals and semi-finals, and now we’re in another final. With all the circumstances that were around at the beginning: the situation with the squad, and being without Demba Ba, a squad in transition, we were doing a good job. We were professional trying to improve things without much time, and we did well. The players deserve to be there. I enjoy it now because we’re winning.

“It’s an opportunity for the club. It’ll be tough because Benfica are a really good team and hard to play against but at least we are there. With the commitment and the quality, we’ll have a chance for sure.”

Benítez has consistently said that the priority must be finishing in the top four in the Premier League but hopes that reaching the Europa League final can create valuable momentum ahead of fixtures against Manchester United on Sunday and then Tottenham next Wednesday.

“I think it’s important to show this character and keep winning,” said Benítez. “We have to keep the momentum. Hopefully we can do it. United will be tough, Tottenham will be crucial for us. We know we’ll have difficult games, but we have confidence, we have enough quality in the team, we have had a very good atmosphere inside. Sometimes you can win or not but they were still doing their job so I was really pleased with them before and really pleased with them now.”

Chelsea suffered a scare last night when they conceded a goal just before half-time to bring Basle level on aggregate score but were eventually comfortable winners after second-half goals from Fernando Torres, David Luiz and Victor Moses. The pick of those goals was Luiz’s wonderful 25-year strike.

“I just told them things we weren’t doing well, things we could improve at half-time,” said Benítez. “Good players with quality, as soon as they put everything there, it can make the difference. I’m really pleased with David Luiz. Since I came, I was talking to him, giving him confidence, and he has given me lots of things back. He’s got a great character, is still growing, and will be even better.”

Benítez also calmed fears of an injury to Eden Hazard, who was forced off during the second-half. “I think he’s OK, not very serious,” he said. “He was limping a bit but it was just a precaution.”

Torres said that the players had focused at half-time on improving their mental attitude. “It’s about concentration, mentality and showing that,” said Torres.

“We did it in the first 10 minutes of the second half and killed the game. In the future we have to play with this intensity.”

Luiz said that the final would be the chance to make up for defeats this season in the European Super Cup, the Community Shield and the World Club Cup.

“This is one more opportunity to win a title – we lost three finals this season, so now is the time to win.”